Demilitarized Zone
DMZ — Vietnam

“DMZ,” which means demilitarized zone, is a military term that refers to a combat-free area between two enemies. The DMZ in Vietnam lay at the 17th parallel and was created by an agreement known as the Geneva Accords. In reality, the Vietnamese DMZ extended about a mile on either side of the Ben Hai River and ran west to east from the Laotian border to the South China Sea.

The DMZ was breached by the North Vietnamese Army (NVA) when they constructed the Ho Chi Minh Trail that allowed for the transport of troops and supplies to the National Liberation Front (NLF), or Vietcong, in the south.

The U.S. military and the Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), in an attempt to stem the flow of soldiers and supplies, built a series of bases surrounded by barbed wire, electrified fencing, and land mines along Route 9, about six miles south of and parallel to the DMZ. That series of bases became known as the “McNamara Line,” so named for Robert S. McNamara, then U.S. secretary of defense.

Some of the war's fiercest fighting and bloodiest battles occurred along that line. Such areas as Khe Sanh, Camp Carroll, and the Rockpile — a hill in the middle of the Cam Lo valley where NVA movements could be observed by U.S. Marines — are forever etched into the minds of the soldiers who fought there and survived.

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